Clinicopathological and survival features of neuroendocrine tumors: A retrospective analysis of 153 cases, our current remarks on a heterogeneous tumor group, and still unmet future expectations.

Objective: Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) originate from the diffuse neuroendocrine cell system and constitute a heterogeneous group of tumors exhibiting diverse clinical and biological characteristics. NENs include well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs). In the present study, we performed a retrospective analysis of patients diagnosed with NET to evaluate clinicopathological characteristics, treatment and outcomes. Material and Methods: Data from 153 patients diagnosed with NET who were treated and followed up at three tertiary care centers from November 2002 to June 2021 were retrospectively evaluated. Clinicopathological and prognostic factors, treatment modalities and survival data were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess survival data and comparisons were performed using the logrank test. Results: Median age (IQR) was 53 (18-80) years. 85.6% of the patients had gastro-entero-pancreatic (GEP)-NET. The primary tumor was resected in 95 patients (62.1%) and metastasectomy were performed in 22 patients (14.4%). Seventy-eight patients received systemic therapy for metastatic disease. Patients were followed up for a median of 22 (IQR = 33.8) months. The estimated one-year and three-year survival rate was 89.8% and 74.4%, respectively. Median progression-free survival (PFS) were 10.1, 8.5, and 4.2 months after first-, second- and third-line therapy, respectively. Conclusion: The number of systemic treatment options and diagnostic tools for NETs has significantly improved in the last few years. NET classification, which treatment will be more appropriate for which group of patients, the molecular basis of this disease and the development of treatment strategies are open-ended questions that still need to be investigated.

Frequency of HCV infection in renal cell carcinoma patients.

Chronic infections with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are frequently pronounced in the etiology of malignancies especially in hepatocellular carcinoma. The association between HCV and risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) development has been stated recently. The authors retrospectively evaluated hepatitis serology for HCV and HBV in patients who had RCC diagnosis between 2005 and 2010 in six oncology centers. Control group was also included from the three different published studies that hepatitis serology studied in healthy people that has been living in the same geographic regions. Histologically confirmed 903 RCC cases and 5,267 healthy subjects were included the study. Median age at diagnosis of RCC was 58 (range: 26-89). There was no increase in HCV positivity in RCC patients compared to healthy control group (1.7 vs. 1.5%; P = 0.77). Frequency of HBsAg positivity was 4.4 and 4.1% in RCC and control groups, respectively (P = 0.65). There is no increase in frequency of HCV and HBsAg positivity in RCC patients. HCV positivity in RCC patients were not different from the healthy people.

Successful treatment of chronic hiccup with baclofen in cancer patients.

Chronic hiccup is an infrequent but distressing symptom in patients with advanced cancer. A series of drugs (chlorpromazine, haloperidol, nifedipine, metoclopramide, baclofen) have been used to treat hiccup without definitive results. Some authors have suggested a possible role of baclofen in the treatment of chronic hiccup. We report three cases of chronic hiccup in patients with cancer successfully treated with baclofen.